Leahy Warns Sotomayor Opponents Against Ethnic and Race-Based Attacks

In his opening statement, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) noted that Thurgood Marshall, despite the fact that he graduated first in his law school class, was a highly successful U.S. Solicitor General and had a long list of extraordinary achievements, was grilled during his Supreme Court nomination with questions like, “Are you prejudiced against white people?” Leahy also pointed out that the confirmation of Justice Louis Brandeis included questions about the Jewish mind, and that the first Catholic nominee was questioned about whether he’d be dominated by the Pope. Leahy said, “We’re in a different time now,” adding that he hopes “all senators will join together as we did when we considered President Reagan’s nomination to confirm Sandra Day O’Connor as the first woman on the Supreme Court.”

O’Connor was unanimously confirmed.

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